All welders should take the time to ______________________ before beginning work.

• A. Thoroughly visually inspect their welding machines, cords, and hoses
• B. Draft a safety plan
• C. Check the humidity in the shop
• D. Calibrate their meter

Answer: (A)

The main practice here is performing a thorough visual check of the welding equipment before starting work. By inspecting the welding machine, cords, and hoses, you’re looking for obvious hazards like frayed or damaged cables, cracked or leaking hoses, loose connections, or signs of wear that could spark a fire or cause an electric shock. Catching these issues early keeps you safe and helps ensure the weld will be performed with a stable setup and proper shielding gas flow.

Drafting a safety plan is important, but it’s a broader step you’d do as part of overall job planning, not the immediate pre-weld check. Checking the humidity isn’t typically a critical safety action for an everyday weld task, and calibrating a meter is only necessary if you’re taking measurements and need accuracy for a specific test or process. The immediate, practical pre-work habit that directly reduces risk is visually inspecting the equipment.